How to get past any kind of obstacles during your recovery journey?

After a tough, prolonged conflict with and within you, the mental health recovery phase is not easy. It leaves you vulnerable and fragile. Today, in this world of speed and advancement, the competition has increased. With competition, stress levels and pressure to ‘fit in’ has also reached its peak. Notwithstanding the shame encompassing mental health, approximately 1 out of 5 adults, suffer from mental illness.

Some of the most common mental health disorders are:

Depression:
A severe yet common disorder that negatively impairs a person’s behaviour. It produces feelings of sadness, worthlessness, hopelessness, helplessness and lack of interest in activities.

Eating Disorders:
Involve intense feelings circling food. People suffering from eating disorders have distorted body image and obsession with weight. Different types:

1) Anorexia: wherein people stop eating or consume minimum calories.
2) Bulimia: wherein people binge and purge, to stop themselves from gaining weight.

Substance abuse:
Where people consume substance such as drugs and alcohol in large quantities. They eventually become dependent on these, which also results in taking larger amounts of the drug to have the desired effect.

These disorders affect both intra-personal as well as interpersonal
relations. They force you to shut down and isolate you from others. In a world where mental health is still considered as a taboo and is looked down upon, to recover from these disorders and achieve mental stability can be an empowering yet a challenging task. Always remember that seeking help/treatment is okay. The road to recovery is of utmost importance, as it provides a link between your inner self and the world. It also fosters acceptance of who/how you are and gives you confidence in that acceptance.

A person who is constantly struggling with issues related to body image and food, recovery for him/her can be accepting the relationship between healthy body-food and discarding their previous distorted notions of an ‘ideal body’. This acceptance will eventually boost their self-esteem and provide them with confidence.

Recovery phase empowers you to make your own decision. It allows you to look beyond the disorder that defined your life. However, people may sometimes feel constrained by their inabilities but they eventually find a way to adapt to the environment. They find confidence in having some authority over their lives.

They acknowledge the fact that life is possible in spite of having an inability. They use different coping mechanisms/ treatment to get past them. The recovery phase is of utmost importance as the vulnerability leaves a person prone to relapse. This is the phase where determination to achieve stability is required.

Recovery is a sensitive time where motivation from both external sources like family/friends and internal forces like self-motivation is important.

The support one has from family and friends shape the kind of recovery that person is going to have. The environment majorly influences the human brain. Providing unconditional positive regard and spreading positive mental health awareness will make the person feel loved and therefore encourage him/her to grow.

How to overcome any obstacle during the recovery period?

Recovery is a journey; it will take time, but know that it is possible. Imagine eating an orange it is not always sweet. It can be sour. It has seeds, similarly recovery journey is not the destination. It will have its setbacks, ups and downs.

People can be prone to relapse, that is falling back to their previous
lifestyles.

 Having unrealistic expectations: Some people believe that recovery is a straight line and will lead to a destination, which is stability. However, when this doesn’t happen, they feel dejected and cheated. This results in self-blaming, making the situation worse.

 Re-building relations:The idea of re-building relations can produce anxiety. It can hinder the process of recovery as people still might not be able to understand the severity of mental health.

 Environment: A negative environment will make things worse. A person might sulk into his old habits. An environment with no awareness can produce feelings of despair. It can also lead to self-doubt and self-pity, which lowers self-confidence and can take away the power to recover.

 Finding meaning: Some people’s lives are focused around the trauma they’ve endured. They are conditioned to a way of living which is fixated
around their problem. They have no idea who they are without this, which can be terrifying and can hamper the process of recovery. The fear of the unknown can be petrifying.

HOW CAN WE OVERCOME THESE OBSTACLES?

• Maintaining hope: Holding on to hope might seem like a challenging task when you’ve experienced so much but without hope, everything seems futile. If you can’t believe in recovery, there will be no recovery. Hoping is linked to positive thoughts. Join a self-help group, talk to people who have faced similar challenges. Focus on your strengths and positive aspects.
• Seek help:
  Be it professional or personal. Take therapies, talk to a psychologist. Surround yourself with people you love. Humans are gregarious in nature; they always seek social support. Don’t let yourself engage in self-pity. Know that you are loved.
• Take control:
  Feelings and emotions can be all over the place. You can feel like things re moving beyond your control. Believe in yourself. You can always look back and see your progress. Pat yourself on the back, you got this. Express yourself, talk to someone, paint, dance, listen to music, draw, write or sing. This can work as a catharsis. This will give you time to think but will also keep you busy enough to not overthink. If you still feel like you can’t control this feeling, talk to a doctor. It’s okay to seek help.
• Determination:
  Look at your progress and feel motivated. Stay with people who appreciate you and leave the people who pull you back. Get away from toxic people. Start afresh. Changing your lifestyle will be challenging but this will be for the best. Opt for positive and healthy living styles. Improve your sleeping schedules, eat well and exercise.
• Accept the way you are.
• Find peace within yourself.

Recovery means development over time. This development can be spoken in terms of stages and defining moments in the recovery procedure. Reconstructing a life with psychological problems is difficult, but not impossible. There will be fallouts, hurdles and discoveries along the way. It can sometimes feel like no one will understand what you’re going through, but always remember, emotions are the only thing that bind us together. You are not alone. Sometimes who will need help and that’s okay. Believe in yourself, keep the hope alive. Many people found ways to live a life with mental problems.

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